July, in the height of summer, the sun was scorching hot.
The asphalt road curled into scales under the high temperature, with thick, menacing vines embedded in every crack.
The man, holding a short knife, arduously chopped the vines blocking his path and followed the roadside signposts.
"Happiness City, your first choice for wasteland refuge!"
"Happiness City, the hope for the next era of humanity!"
"Happiness City, where we have endless food and energy!"
"Happiness City, where everyone gets respect!"
"Happi..."
The closer he got, the denser the slogans on the signposts became, nailed on tilted utility poles, sprayed on the collapsed bank's outer walls, and even carved on the weathered shop signs.
Like some kind of bewitching spell, the man was clearly exhausted, yet suddenly felt a surge of energy within, even his trembling legs seemed much lighter.
Following the signposts through several turns, the shadows of the city receded like a tide, glaring sunlight fell, and the boundary of light and dark isolated the building ruins behind him.
Despite the exaggerated description of Happiness City in the broadcasts, upon seeing this scene with his own eyes, the man couldn't help but gape in astonishment.
The first thing he saw was the legendary 'Happiness Giant Wall'!
According to the broadcast, this giant wall was about 30 meters high, stretching over ten kilometers, forming a giant living area of about ten square kilometers.
But in reality, it must be much more than that, as the shape of the giant wall was an irregular ellipse.
Based on the population density of wasteland refugee gathering spots, it could accommodate at least a million people inside!
In front of the giant wall was the quarantine buffer zone that every Shelter City would set up.
The difference was that Happiness City's quarantine zone, like the giant wall, was about ten kilometers long, five kilometers wide, equally neat and grand.
Though most of it consisted of old buildings preserved from the old era, and you could even faintly see a few broken pedestrian streets interspersed, the checkpoint at the forefront of the quarantine zone exuded an intimidating sense of authority.
Comprised of orderly iron net partitions, the checkpoint was divided into three areas: front, middle, and back, corresponding to preliminary screening, quarantine observation, and resident paperwork processing.
In the screening area, after passing through the double-swing metal gate at the front, one enters the quarantine cage placed on the conveyor belt, and is transported to different windows for an epidemic inspection by the Inspectors.
After completing the screening, survivors confirmed to be disease-free could enter the back area immediately to process resident paperwork.
Survivors with doubts would need to proceed to the middle observation area and spend three days inside a canvas tent.
[You have entered the Happiness City warning zone]
[Please follow the yellow marked line ahead for quarantine inspection]
[Trespassers will be killed without exception]
As he approached the quarantine zone, the style of the roadside signs also changed noticeably.
A bit nervous, the man gulped, picked up his backpack, and continued forward, quickly blending into the queuing crowd.
"Please queue orderly, do not crowd, enter the quarantine cage as a family unit for inspection!"
The hoarse electronic synthesized voice echoed above the screening area, while eight fortress-like sentry towers perched like giant beasts, with loudspeakers on the walls constantly repeating commands.
The survivors moved silently with their heads lowered, advancing orderly under the watch of heavy machine guns.
However, when entering the quarantine cage, survivors had the chance to choose their Inspector once.
From 1 to 8, eight rusty conveyor belts extended side by side, corresponding to eight Inspectors of different ages and genders.
The man's eyes flickered as he feigned indifference while scanning each window, quickly locking his gaze on Inspector No. 8, a subtle smile curling upon his lips.
Although all Inspectors wore masks, he could easily determine from the skin on their necks that Inspector No. 8 was the youngest, hence passing his inspection should be the easiest.
...
"Name?"
"Edmond Reck."
"Where are you from?"
"Sak Federation City."
In front of the man, Inspector No. 8 spread out a map, and after quite some time, exclaimed in surprise: "Oh? That place is almost three thousand kilometers from Happiness City, how did you get here?"
"I took a freight train, cars, even a short boat ride, and then walked three hundred kilometers to reach Happiness City."
"Alright, that's quite a journey indeed. See the first thermometer on the table in front of you? Please pick it up, aim it at your forehead and press it, then tell me the reading."
"Got it."
Inside each quarantine cage, there was a fixed small square table with three types of testing instruments on it.
Following the Inspector's instructions, Edmond picked up the thermometer and soon saw the LCD screen displaying two digits.
47.02.
"Sir, this thermometer seems broken. How could my body temperature possibly be 47 degrees?"
"Oh, really?"
Inspector No. 8 poked his head out suspiciously, and after confirming the numbers, gestured:
"It seems the equipment is indeed faulty, but it's okay, we'll proceed directly to the Q&A session. Once you pass the test, you can go to the back to process your resident registration paperwork."
"That's great, sir, please go ahead."
"Between Sak Federation City and Happiness City, on which segment did you take the waterway?"
"It should be... the Lijiang Tributary?" Edmond tried hard to recall, "A massive infection outbreak happened in Cloud City, so I had to bypass that section by water."
"Exact date?"
"June 15th."
"Remember that clearly?"
"Of course, that day was the founding day of Happiness City, and I listened to the three-hour celebration broadcast entirely on the radio." Recalling the solemn bells and the cheering crowd coming through the static, Edmond's face showed a look of utter satisfaction.
It was clear that during this long journey, the broadcasts from Happiness City provided him with a lot of "happiness."
"Hmm, okay. Do you also remember the surrounding disaster report that was broadcast after the founding day celebration ended?"
"Was there such a segment?"
Edmond's smile stiffened, his pupils contracted violently in the shadows, "I... I don't remember, maybe it was broadcast too late?"
"Of course, you wouldn't remember that."
The metallic table made an ear-piercing screech as Inspector No. 8 opened a drawer and pulled out a few photos.
The river in the photos looked like a murky giant python, surging out of its course, drowning a vast piece of the Wilderness.
"On June 14th, a flash flood hit the Lijiang Tributary at dawn, causing the water level to rise by seven meters, and all the drifters' bodies got jammed under the broken bridge thirty kilometers outside Cloud City."
"And your water route journey happened exactly twenty-four hours after death had swept through."
"What?"
As if a specific button had been pressed, Edmond stood up abruptly, the blood quickly drained from his face, and his facial features twisted into a gray, wilted mass like a wood ear mushroom soaked for days.
"Flood... broken bridge... I..."
Suddenly, Edmond's pupils spread, his jaw dropped towards his chest like it was unhinged, and next, three gray-purple tentacles violently burst from his throat, their gray-purple skins covered with suckers.
But before the foremost one could drill out of the cage's gap, a small red dot suddenly lit up on his forehead.
Boom!
The 7.62mm full-power bullet had an excellent "exorcism" effect, shredding the tentacles and taking away half a head along.
Edmond's upper body flew backward, revealing wriggling tumor structures at the back of his neck, but oddly, the remaining half of his face still kept a sinister smile, while his shattered throat continuously shrieked: "Fake... Happiness... fake..."
"Code name—Death Language Tentacles, infection status: Second-Phase, terminated with the cooperation of Intern Inspector Cheng Ye and the sentry tower."
Seeing the okay sign from the window of the sentry tower, Cheng Ye sighed and pressed the communicator to report.
Soon, the communicator replied, "Received, cleaning team will arrive in three minutes, please keep the scene stable, Inspector!"
Scene stable?
Cheng Ye hung up the communicator and, suppressing the nausea rising in his throat, looked around.
The survivors on the other seven conveyor belts seemed accustomed to this, only subconsciously glancing over at the gunshot, unsurprised by Edmond's gruesome death and tentacles.
As for the other seven Inspectors, it was terrifying how calm they were; none even turned their heads at the sound of the gun.
To say the entire scene was stable, perhaps only him, the newly crossed-over Inspector of two months, needed it.
...